Spin isolation apparatus, spin asymmetric material producing method, current source, and signal processing method

ABSTRACT

A spin isolation apparatus comprising a particle source for emitting particles having spins, a receiving section for receiving the particles emitted by the particle source, a magnet for separating the particles into first particles having positive spins and second particles having negative spins, and a trajectory restricting section for isolating the first and the second particles received by the receiving section through restricting trajectories of the first particles and/or the second particles is provided. By applying this apparatus, particles having spins whose every sign is either one of the two signs can be mass-produced.

This is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 12/087,152 filed Jun. 27,2008, which in turn is a National Phase of Application No.PCT/JP2006/326127 filed Dec. 27, 2006, which claims the benefit ofInternational Application No. PCT/JP2005/024266 filed Dec. 28, 2005. Thedisclosures of the prior applications are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an apparatus for dividing individual particleshaving spins into two groups each of which contains particles havingspins whose every sign is plus or minus, a method for producing amaterial including particles having spins whose every sign is plus orminus more than particles having spins of another sign different fromthe sign of spins of the former particles, a current source supplyingelectrons having spins whose every sign is plus or minus, and a methodfor processing electric signals comprised of electrons having spinswhose every sign is plus or minus.

BACKGROUND ART

It is well known that spins of individual material particles areinvolved with magnetic characteristics of substances. Those substanceshaving magnetic characteristics such as various magnets are used as rawmaterials for producing devices and apparatuses indispensable forindustry. Further, a new field of electronics called spin electronics orspintronics has been remarked in recent years. In these fields, it isintended to develop new magnetic materials and semiconductors byapplying technologies for controlling not only charges but also spins ofelectrons. As an example of such technologies, it can be mentioned thata giant magneto-resistance effect is obtained by applying an artificiallattice structure of a metal in which atomic deposition in the normaldirection to the stratified layers is artificially controlled. Thistechnology has been applied in producing a GMR head as a magnetic head.Recently, development of MRAM as a nonvolatic magnetic memory isenergetically advanced.

-   [Non-patent Reference 1] W. Gerlach and O. Stern, Z. Phys. Vol. 9,    349 (1922).-   [Non-patent Reference 2] ibid. 353 (1922).-   [Non-patent Reference 3] Ann. Phys. Vol. 74, 673 (1924)-   [Non-patent Reference 4] D. Bohm, Quantum Theory (Prentice-Hall,    Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1951).-   [Non-patent Reference 5] H. Ezawa, “Chap. 10 The development of the    quantum theory and paradoxes” in Quantum Mechanics and New    Technology, ed. by Physical Society of Japan (Baifukan, Tokyo, 1987)    (in Japanese).

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Task to be Solved by the Invention

When ultimately going ahead with the above technologies for controllingspins, we get a technology, as an unprecedented idea, for producingparticles having spins of only either one of the plus and minus signsseparately from each other. When isolation of each individual particlewith the spin of every specified sign becomes possible, it also becomespossible to create a new material that has never existed in the naturalworld by applying particles having spins of only either one of the twosigns.

Solution for the Task

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provideda spin isolation apparatus which isolates particles each having a spinbased on a sign of the spin of each of the particles, the apparatuscomprising a particle source which emits the particles; a receivingsection which receives the particles emitted by the particle source, amagnet which has two magnet poles arranged apart from each other with aprescribed gap and which is placed between the particle source and thereceiving section and which separates the particles into first particleseach having a spin of a positive sign and second particles each having aspin of a negative sign, and a trajectory restricting section which isplaced between the particle source and the receiving section whichrestricts the trajectories of at least one of the first particles andthe second particles to isolate the first and second particles receivedby the receiving section.

According to the first aspect of this invention, individual particleshaving spins can be separated and isolated based on the sign of eachspin and the isolated particles each having the spin of a specific signdo not mix with other isolated particles each having the spin of theother sign. Accordingly, each of isolated particles can be independentlyextracted as a particle having the spin of the plus sign or of the minussign. A particle source in this invention means an apparatus that emitsparticle beam such as, for example, silver atomic beam or neutron beam.Moreover, placing, for example, a slit-collimator comprised of two slitapertures separated from each other with a certain distance between themagnet and the particle source, the particle beam can be adjusted likeparallel rays of light. Further, the magnet in this invention may be anelectromagnet (like, for example, an electromagnet used in theStern-Gerlach experiment) or a permanent magnet. When particles are forinstance silver atoms, an insulator plate can be used as the receivingsection. Incidentally, in this invention, “to isolate individualparticles” does not restricted only to the case when two types ofparticles can be completely separated without any mixing with eachother. For example, if the two types of particles could not becompletely separated, these particles can be regarded as “divided intotwo” provided that the number of particles of one type is larger thanthe number of particles of the other type.

In the spin isolation apparatus of this invention, the trajectoryrestricting section may be a screen having a predetermined aperture andmay be placed between the magnet and the receiving section. In thiscase, since the first particles and the second particles arrived at thereceiving section can certainly be separated, there is no fear thatthese two types of particles may mix with each other.

In the spin isolation apparatus of this invention, the trajectoryrestricting section may be such a conductive wire, which connects theparticle source and the receiving section, which is placed in the gapbetween the magnet poles, and which branches into two wires at the gapbetween the magnet poles. In this case, when the particles should becharged particles such as, for example, electrons, since there is nofear that the trajectories may be turned toward the outside of themagnet due to Lorentz forces, the first particles and the secondparticles can be surely separated.

In the spin isolation apparatus of this invention, the particles eachhaving the spin may be electrons, the receiving section may includestorage devices and the magnet can be an electromagnet. In this case,one of the electrons having positive spins and the electrons havingnegative spins can be stored more than another of the electrons in eachstorage device.

In the spin isolation apparatus of this invention, the particles eachhaving the spin may be neutrons, the receiving section may be formed bya neutron absorber. In this case, since only neutrons having spins ofpositive signs or negative signs can be absorbed in the neutronabsorber, a spin characteristic (e.g., a magnetic characteristic) of thematerial that has absorbed neutrons can be altered.

According to the second aspect of this invention, there is provided amethod for producing a spin asymmetric substance in which a number ofparticles each having a positive spin and a number of particles eachhaving negative spins are different, the method including: arranging,side by side, a particle source which emits a beam of particles eachhaving a spin, a magnet having two magnet poles arranged with apredetermined gap, and a substance; emitting the particles having thespin from the particle source; separating the particles each having thespin into the particles each having the positive spin and the particleseach having the negative spin by making the particles each having thespin pass through the gap of defined in the magnet; and injecting, intothe substance, one of the particles each having the positive spin andthe particles each having the negative spin such that the one of theparticles is injected more than the other of the particles.

According to the second aspect of this invention, injecting particleshaving positive spins or particles having negative spins into a materialcan easily alter physical properties (e.g., magnetic properties) of thismaterial. And it is also possible to produce a condenser containing oneof the two types of electrons, that is, the electrons having positivespins and the electrons having negative spins, more than another type ofthe electrons by injecting one of the two types of the electrons morethan another type of the electrons into a capacitor included in thecondenser as the material in this invention.

According to the third aspect of this invention, there is provided acurrent source comprising a plurality of first electrons each having apositive spin; a plurality of second electrons each having a negativespin; a storage section which stores the first and second electrons; andelectrodes which output the first and second electrons, wherein a numberof the first electrons stored in the storage section and a number of thesecond electrons stored in the storage section are different from eachother.

According to the third aspect of this invention, for example, applyingthe current source supplying electrons having either one of the positivespins or negative spins as the particle source in the second aspect ofthis invention, it becomes possible to supply electrons having eitherone of the higher purity positive spins or negative spins.

According to the fourth aspect of this invention, there is provided asignal processing method comprising: forming the first electric signalwith a first electron having a positive spin and forming a secondelectric signal with a second electron having negative spins.

According to the fourth aspect of this invention, an electric signalprovided by the signal processing method of this invention can deal witha large quantity of information simultaneously, because this electricsignal includes information of spins in addition to information ofwhether or not electrons exist.

The signal processing method of this invention may further includeforming a compound signal that is compounded from the first electricsignal and the second electric signal and decomposing the compoundsignal into the first electric signal and the second electric signal. Inthis case, since compounding and/or decomposing signals are freelycarried out, these two signals can be dealt with by compressing into onesignal.

Effect of the Invention

According to this invention, since particles having positive spinsand/or particles having negative spins can be injected into a material,magnetic characteristics of the material can easily be altered.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a situation of a silveratomic beam splitting into two in the gap of magnet poles in anapparatus for the Stern-Gerlach experiment.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a mask having a rectangular apertureplaced just before the glass plate in the Stern-Gerlach experimentalapparatus and FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of thepositional relationship between the rectangular aperture and theevaporation pattern.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an apparatus for massproduction of electrons having either one of the positive spins ornegative spins associated with magnetic moment.

FIG. 4A illustrates a circuit for compounding a signal comprised ofelectrons having positive spins and another signal comprised ofelectrons having negative spins together (dual-spin electron signalcompounding circuit) and FIG. 4B illustrates a circuit for dividing thecompounded signal into signals each comprised of electrons having eitherone of the positive spins and negative spins.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams each illustrating an assembly in which aconductive branched wire shown in FIG. 3 and a magnet are assembledtogether on a substrate. FIG. 5A shows the case in which a permanentmagnet is utilized and FIG. 5B shows the case in which an electromagnetis applied.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the Stern-Gerlachexperimental apparatus.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

When we call an apparatus, for producing individual particles eachhaving a spin of the positive sign and individual particles each havinga spin of the negative sign separately, as a spin isolation apparatus inshort, an apparatus used in the Stern-Gerlach experiment can be remindedas an existent apparatus similar to the spin isolation apparatus (Referto FIG. 6). Before describing the spin isolation apparatus of thisinvention in detail, the Stern-Gerlach experiment and the apparatus usedin the experiment will be shortly explained below.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the apparatus used in theStern-Gerlach experiment (Refer to Non-patent References 1 through 3).Since the shapes of pole tips of the N and S poles are extremelydifferent from each other, a strongly inhomogeneous magnetic field isgenerated. With regard to silver atomic beams emitted from an electricfurnace 50, tracks of the silver atomic beam traveling on the x axiswere illustrated according to the drawings by Bohm in the Non-patentReference 4 (Refer to FIG. 1 in page 593 and FIG. 2 in page 598).However, according to the same Non-patent Reference 4, a trajectory ofeach individual microscopic particle in motion has been considered notpossible to exist like in classical mechanics because of the uncertaintyprinciple (In pages 100-101 in the Non-patent Reference 4, the followingdescription stating that the momentum and position of every particlecannot even exist with simultaneously and perfectly defined values isseen. If so, it turns out that every particle has no trajectory.)

A silver atomic beam 106 emitted from an aperture of an electric furnace(particle source) 50 is collimated by passing through slit apertures ofthe same shape each cut in two screens 101 and 102 both placed with acertain separation and the resulted atomic beam of a cross section thatis laterally long (in the direction of the y axis) impinges on anelectromagnet. The aperture opened in each of the individual screens 101and 102 has the length s=0.8 mm in the direction along the y axis andthe width w=0.03˜0.04 mm in the direction along the z axis. Since theshapes of magnet poles (103 a and 103 b) of an electromagnet 103extremely lack the symmetry with respect to the xy plane, silver atomsarrived at a glass plate 104 (observation plane) draw a specificevaporation pattern. That is, this evaporation pattern extremely lacks,as shown in FIG. 2B, the symmetry with respect to the y axis althoughthat is symmetric with respect to the z axis. The separation between thepattern drawn by the silver atomic rays each having − spin and thepattern drawn by the silver atomic rays each having + spin in thedirection of the z axis becomes maximum (Δz=z⁻−z₊˜0.20 mm) on the z axisgetting narrower with larger distance from the z axis and, finally,these two patterns are overlapped with each other.

According to Non-patent Reference 4, since each individual silver atompasses through the region between the two magnet poles instantaneously,the force working to the atom in this region is assumed to be neglected.Further, the x motion of the atom is dealt with by assuming as havingthe velocity v in accordance with classical mechanics, while the zmotion parallel to the magnetic field is assumed to be dealt withquantum mechanically. According to the figure shown in the paper byStern and Gerlach (FIG. 1 in Non-patent Reference 3), the magnet polelength l in the direction along the x axis is about 10 times longer thanthe distance d (supposed to be ˜3 mm), that is, the distance from themagnet poles to the observation plane shown in FIG. 6. Although thetrack of the silver atomic beam drawn according to the figure by Bohmdoes not split while the beam passes through the electromagnet, itsplits into two tracks towards different directions as soon as it getsout of the electromagnet. Because each silver atom should rather beaffected by the magnetic field only during its passing through the gapbetween the magnet poles, the track of the silver atomic beam shown inFIG. 6 is unnatural. However, since Bohm's textbook for quantummechanics is the first one that has dealt with the Stern-Gerlachexperiment, the behavior of each silver atom in this experiment will bedescribed according to Bohm for the time being. For simplicity, we dealwith only the motion in the xz plane in the following. As for theinitial condition, each individual silver atom is assumed to exist atthe entrance of the electromagnet when t=0. This means that the originof a local coordinate system exists on the x axis at the entrance of theelectromagnet.

The Hamiltonian of the interaction between a silver atom and themagnetic flux density B in this experiment can be expressed as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{H_{1} = {{\mu \left( {\sigma \cdot B} \right)} = {\mu \begin{pmatrix}B_{z} & {B_{x} - {\; B_{y}}} \\{B_{x} + {\; B_{y}}} & {- B_{z}}\end{pmatrix}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

where σ represents a spin operator (Refer to Non-patent Reference 4, p.405, Eq. (75)).

Here, let the absolute value of electronic charge, the mass of anelectron, Planck's constant, and the velocity of light be e, m, h, and crespectively, the magnetic moment μ of the electron is written asfollows:

$\begin{matrix}{\mu = {{- \frac{e\; \hslash}{2{mc}}} < 0}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 2} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

where the reduced Planck's constant is defined by the following Eq. 3:

$\begin{matrix}{\hslash = \frac{h}{2\pi}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 3} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

In Eq. 1, the x component of B can be ignored and, because the magneticfield is symmetric with respect to the xz plane, the y component of Balso becomes zero. Further, the highly inhomogeneous magnetic field canbe approximated as follows (Refer to Non-patent Reference 4, page 594):

B ₂ =B ₀ +zB ₀′  [Eq. 4]

In the above Eq. 4, B₀ represents the magnetic flux density on the xaxis (Refer to Non-patent Reference 4, p. 594) and B₀′ is written by

$\begin{matrix}{B_{0}^{\prime} = \left( \frac{\partial B_{z}}{\partial z} \right)_{z = 0}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 5} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

From these equations, the Hamiltonian of the interaction, Eq. 1, can beexpressed as

H ₁=μ(B ₀ +zB ₀′)σ_(z)  [Eq. 6]

Here, with the use of the Pauli spin matrix, the z component of a spinis written as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{s_{z} = {{\frac{\hslash}{2}\sigma_{z}} = {\frac{\hslash}{2}\begin{pmatrix}1 & 0 \\0 & {- 1}\end{pmatrix}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 7} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

While the purpose of the Stern-Gerlach experiment was to measure themagnetic moment of a nucleus of each silver atom, it had turned out thatactually measured was the magnetic moment of an electron given by Eq. 7.Since this magnetic moment is a physical quantity associated with theelectronic spin, this measurement can be regarded as the measurement ofthe electronic spin s_(z). According to Non-patent Reference 4, with theuse of B₀ given by Eq. 5, the magnetic moment μ expressed by Eq. 2, andthe time Δt that is necessary for each silver atom to pass through thegap between the magnet poles, the position of a silver atom having+ spinand the position of a silver atom having − spin both on the z axis arerepresented respectively as follows (Refer to Non-patent Reference 4,page 597, Eq. (18)):

$\begin{matrix}{{z_{+} = {{{- \frac{B_{0}^{\prime}\mu \; \Delta \; t}{\hslash}}t} > 0}},{z_{-} = {{\frac{B_{0}^{\prime}\mu \; \Delta \; t}{\hslash}t} < 0}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 8} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Here, as shown in FIG. 6, when the length of the electromagnet in thedirection along the x axis is represented by l and the velocity of eachatom in the direction along the x axis by v, it gives Δt=l/v. However,this inventor indicates that this equation involves two points of errorsshown below. One is the sign and another is the difference between thedimensions of both sides of this equation. Although the dimension of thenumerator is J·m⁻¹·s², since that of the denominator is J·s, thedimension of z becomes m⁻¹·s resulting in having no dimension of alength.

Referring to Non-patent References (pages 204-242; Concerning theanalysis of the Stern-Gerlach experiment, refer to pages 221-225) inwhich results of detailed analysis on the Stern-Gerlach experiment aredescribed, the above problem will be reexamined.

As the original article will be referred to for details, only the mainpoints will be described in the following: The wave function ψ_(+out)that is concerned with the up spin (+spin) and gets out of theelectromagnet, represents the state of a silver atom having the momentump whose x component (px), y component (py), and z component (py) aregiven respectively as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{{p_{x} = {\hslash \; k}},{p_{y} = 0},{p_{z} = \frac{\hslash \; \mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}l}{2E}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 9} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Here, E denotes the average of kinetic energy of each individual silveratom that is emitted from a furnace with the temperature 1320 K or, moreexactly, 1323 K. This wave function ψ_(+out) has got the additionaldownward momentum Δp_(z) in comparison with the wave function ψ_(+in)incident on the electromagnet. This downward momentum Δp_(z) isrepresented by the following equation:

$\begin{matrix}{{\Delta \; p_{z}} = \frac{\hslash \mspace{2mu} \mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}l}{2E}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 10} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

In contrast, the wave function that is concerned with the down spin andgets out of the electromagnet has got the additional upward momentum−Δp_(z) in comparison with the wave function ψ_(+in) incident on theelectromagnet. This shows that the wave representing a silver atompassing through the gap between the magnet poles splits into a componentcurving down and another component curving up in accordance with thespin of the atom. However, it is known that these momentum variations±Δp_(z) also agree with those predicted by classical mechanics. Thesemomentum variations derived by applying classical mechanics result asfollows:

$\begin{matrix}{{{\pm \Delta}\; p_{z}} = {{\pm \frac{\mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}{l \cdot \hslash}\; k}{2E}} \approx {{\mp 1.2} \times 10^{- 24}\mspace{14mu} {{kg} \cdot m \cdot s^{- 2}}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 11} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

The average wavelength of de Broglie waves associated with silver atomsincident on the slit (the width w equals 0.03˜0.04 mm) set up in each ofindividual screens 101 and 102 becomes, with the use of λ=p_(x)/h, 6.710⁻⁶ μm. If the width of the slit is 0.03 mm, this width is about 4.510⁶ times of the average wavelength of de Broglie waves. Here, takinginto account that the length l of each magnet pole in the directionalong the x axis is about 3 cm, the distance D (Refer to FIG. 1) from ascreen 2 to the observation plane can be supposed to be about 3.5 cm(Refer to Non-patent Reference 3, FIG. 1). Therefore, the diffraction ofa wave associated with each of individual silver atoms caused by theslit can be ignored on this plane. Because being able to ignore thisdiffraction means to be able to ignore the wave nature of eachindividual silver atom, it may be considered that the above-mentionedsplit of each wave actually corresponds to the split of the atomic rays.The inventor of this invention changed the discussion on this item basedon the uncertainty principle in Non-patent Reference 5 into morefundamental discussions based on the diffraction phenomena.

Each individual atom moving on the x axis collides with the glass plateafter its passing through the gap between the magnet poles. It will betried to calculate Δz=z⁻−z₊ by assuming that the observation plane ispositioned at the exit of the magnet poles. According to the results ofthe analysis described above, since each silver atom with the mass M maybe allowed to approximately draw either trajectories of parabolas, wereadily obtain from Eq. (6) the following equation (Here, we usedμ=−0.93 10⁻²³ J/T, (B₀˜1.8 T,) B₀′˜2.4 10³ T/m, l=3 10⁻² m, v˜5.5 10²m/s, and M=1.8 10⁻²⁵ kg):

$\begin{matrix}{{{\Delta \; z} = {{2 \times \frac{{\Delta \; p_{z}}}{M}\frac{l}{v}} = {{2\; \frac{\mu \; {B_{0}^{\prime}\left( {\Delta \; t} \right)}^{2}}{2M}} \approx {0.36\mspace{14mu} {mm}}}}},\left( {{\Delta \; t} = \frac{l}{v}} \right)} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 12} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Taking the above result of analysis done by the inventor of thisinvention into consideration, the schematic diagram of the Stern-Gerlachexperiment shown in FIG. 6 becomes as shown in FIG. 2. But, for theconvenience of easily looking at the evaporation pattern, the distance dbetween magnet poles 3 a and 3 b and a grass plate 4 (observation plane)has been depicted rather distantly. These are actually close to eachother and it gives about d˜3 mm. Incidentally, since Δz˜0.20 mm wasobtained on the surface of the glass plate in the Stern-Gerlachexperiment, the result of Eq. 12 shows good agreement with theexperiment even though applying the considerably approximate formula.The largest difference obtained by comparing FIG. 1 and FIG. 6 exists inthe trajectory of a silver atomic beam. Although the silver atomic beam106 does not split until it goes out of the electromagnet in FIG. 6, itis seen in FIG. 1 that a silver atomic beam 6 emitted by the particlesource 50 begins to split into two beams 6 a and 6 b around the regionencircled by a circle 5 written by a broken line and completely split atthe exit of an electromagnet 3.

In Non-patent Reference 5, it was described that, for example, one mustnot classical mechanically consider as if a silver atom with down spincurves up by receiving upward forces during its passing through the gapbetween the magnet poles. This is because, according to quantummechanics, since the reduction of a wave packet takes place at themoment when each silver atom collides with the glass plate, the silveratom should probabilistically be detected only at either one of the twopositions z=z⁻ and z=z₊ at that moment of collision. In other word, itmeans that the silver atom in the state of superposition of the twodifferent spins must not be considered as having either one of the twospins before its detection. However, this analysis conforming to quantummechanics apparently has no consistency with the results of analysisdescribed above. Because, it has been described in the analysis abovethat “these momentum variations ±Δp_(z) also agree with those predictedby classical mechanics”. If so, in any case wherever the detection planeis placed at the exit or inside of the gap between the magnetic poles,as long as the silver atomic rays split into the two, the experimentalresult that should be obtained is in the form that each single atomdetected at z=z⁻>0 necessarily has a − spin and that detected at z=z₊<0always has a + spin. Actually, this result had been obtained in theStern-Gerlach experiment, so that it is quite allowable to argue thisproblem classical mechanically.

Further, also in Non-patent Reference 5, the following idea wasintroduced: Let the two waves split up and down once by theelectromagnet superpose again by making them pass through another pairof magnetic poles etc. without any intermediate observation on the glassplate. Then, by observing whether or not interference occurs, it will beseen whether or not the reduction of a wave packet occurs at first onthe glass plate. However, as seen from FIG. 1, since any silver atomwith a + spin can never be found out in the wave that has split andcurved upward, interference will never occur even if the split wavescould be superposed again. In other words for confirmation, for a singlesilver atom to occur interference, a probability wave itselfrepresenting the silver atom must be split into two. If so, since theprobability wave representing the superposition of states of two spinspropagates along the two split paths, a silver atom having + spin forexample should be possible to be detected at z=z⁻ or at z=z₊. However,in the experiment, each silver atom having + spin is always detected atz=z₊<0 and is never detected at z=z⁻>0. Accordingly, the interferencenever occurs and it can be affirmed that the individual split waves arenot the probability waves each representing the superposition of states.As shown above, this result of experiment that can be explained byapplying classical mechanics can never be explained by applying quantummechanics. Therefore, we will solve this problem by applying classicalmechanics although this application is an approximation after all in thesense that the wave property is ignored.

The forces working to a silver atom in the magnetic field are given asfollows (Refer to Non-patent Reference 4, page 326, Eq. (68)):

F=μ∇(σ·B)  [Eq. 13]

In the case of this experiment, applying Eq. (5) etc. that are used inNon-patent Reference 4 to approximately describe the interaction betweena silver atom and the magnetic fields in the gap of the magnet poles,the above equation can be written as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{F_{z} = {{\mu \; \frac{\partial B_{z}}{\partial z}\sigma_{z\;}} \approx {\mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}\sigma_{z}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 14} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Since the direction of B₀′ is coincident with that of the magnetic fluxdensity B₀, an atom with σ_(z)=1, that is, the up spin, receivesdownward forces and an atom with σ_(z)=−1, that is, the down spin,receives upward forces. Here, on the x axis shown in FIG. 1, since theorigin of space-time coordinates is temporarily fixed to the entrance ofthe electromagnet 3, the Newtonian equation of motion in the directionalong the z axis for a silver atom in the gap of the magnet poles is,with the use of the mass M of a silver atom, given by the followingequation:

$\begin{matrix}{{M\; \frac{\partial^{2}{z(t)}}{{\partial t^{2}}\;}} = F_{z}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 15} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

On the other hand, since x=vt, the trajectories of individual atoms fromthe entrance to the exit of the electromagnet 3 are determined accordingto the initial conditions set temporarily and the above equation in thexz plane as the two parabolas symmetrical with respect to the x axis asshown below:

$\begin{matrix}{z = {{\pm \frac{\; {\mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}}}{2{Mv}^{2}}}x^{2}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 16} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Denoting the length of magnetic poles 3 a and 3 b in the direction alongthe x axis as l, the z coordinates of individual atoms at the exit ofthe electromagnet are written by the following equations:

$\begin{matrix}{z = {{\pm \frac{\mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}}{2{Mv}^{2}}}l^{2}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 17} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

And, from the gradients of tangential lines at x=l of the parabolas Eq.16, it is seen that the z components v_(z) of the velocities areexpressed as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{v_{z} = {\pm \; \frac{\mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}l}{Mv}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 18} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

In addition, denoting the distance from the exit of electromagnet 3 tothe observation plane 4 as d, the time taken by an atom moving from theexit to this plane 4 becomes d/v. Eventually, the positions ofindividual atoms on the observation plane 4 are given by the followingequations:

$\begin{matrix}{z_{\pm} = {{{\pm \frac{\mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}l^{2}}{2{Mv}^{2}}} + {v_{z}\frac{d}{v}}} = {{{\pm \; \frac{\mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}l^{2}}{2{Mv}^{2}}} \pm \frac{\mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}{ld}}{{Mv}^{2}}} = {{\pm \; \frac{\mu \; B_{0}^{\prime}l}{{Mv}^{2}}}\left( {\frac{l}{2} + d} \right)}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 19} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Substituting d=0 and Δt=l/v in the above equations, the z coordinates ofindividual atoms at the exit of electromagnet 3 are expressed asfollows:

$\begin{matrix}{{z_{+} = {\frac{\mu \; {B_{0}^{\prime}\left( {\Delta \; t} \right)}^{2}}{2M} < 0}},{z_{-} = {{- \frac{\mu \; {B_{0}^{\prime}\left( {\Delta \; t} \right)}^{2}}{2M}} > 0}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 20} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

It is seen that Δz=z⁻−z₊ represented by the use of Eq. (20) agrees withEq. (12). Further, it is also seen from the comparison of Eq. (20) andEq. (8) that there exist errors on the signs mentioned above in Eq. (8).In this way, as far as the Stern-Gerlach experiment, it is supposed thatsilver atoms having up spins received downward forces draw thetrajectories 6 b and silver atoms having down spins received upwardforces draw the trajectories 6 a and, consequently, positions, on theglass plate (observation plane) 4, at which the individual silver atomsarrive can be predicted classical mechanically.

As shown above, it turned out that each individual silver atom having upspin and each individual atom having down spin could be separately takenout. By the way, the reason why a silver atomic spin is identical withan electronic spin is considered that the silver atomic spin is causedby a 5s electron in the outermost shell of the silver atom. As shown inFIG. 1, the pattern of evaporated silver atoms having down spins and thepattern of evaporated silver atoms having up spins are symmetric withrespect to the z-axis and are connected with each other at both ends ofeach of these patterns overlapped on the y axis in the observation plane(plane surface of the glass plate). Since silver is a good conductor, 5selectrons having spins of different signs are mutually mixed as freeelectrons with the lapse of time. Consequently, it is not possible toproduce a thin film of the silver consisting only of silver atoms havingspins of either one of the two signs separately. Thus, this inventorfound out that “the apparatus used in the Stern-Gerlach experimentitself could not be applied as a spin isolation apparatus”.

First Embodiment

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of a spin isolation apparatus 100 of thisinvention for isolating individual particles having spins whose everysign is either one of the two different signs. Taking the case of silveratoms as particles having spins will provide explanations in thisembodiment. The position of an outline 4′ traced by dotted lines in FIG.2A corresponds to the position where the glass plate 4 was placed inFIG. 1. The mask (screen) 8 is placed just before the plate 7 placed atthe position of the outline 4. This mask has a rectangular aperture 9.As shown in FIG. 2B, the breadth of the exterior outline of theevaporation pattern was 1.1 mm in the case of the Stern-Gerlachexperimental apparatus (Refer to Non-patent Reference 1, FIG. 5).Accordingly, supposing that the breadth of the interior outline of theevaporation pattern was ˜0.7 mm, the width of the aperture 9 in thedirection along the y axis should, for example, be determined as 0.5 mm.According to the spin isolation apparatus 100 of this invention, thethin film 10 of silver having − spin and the thin film 11 of silverhaving + spin are separately obtained spatially on the plate (receivingsection) 7 over which the mask (trajectory restricting section) 8 isnewly provided. Further, the evaporation pattern 12 including thin filmparts of silver evaporated in a mixture of silver atoms having − spinsand silver atoms having + spins is remained on the mask 8. For makingthe above separation complete, the aperture 9 can be divided into twoapertures by providing a narrow screen parallel to the y axis as theneed arises.

Although the method for separating the evaporation pattern by providingthe mask 8 just in front of the plate 7 was explained in the above,another method without using the mask 8 exists for enabling thisseparation. A slit of the width w and length s is located on each of thetwo screens 1 and 2 that constitute a slit-collimator. Making the lengths of the slit short for making the width of the evaporated pattern onthe plate shorter than the width of the aperture 9 on the mask 8 alsoresults this separation of the evaporated pattern.

In this embodiment, particles to which the spin isolation apparatus canbe applied are not restricted to silver atoms. For example, when theparticle source 50 (silver atomic source) should be replaced by aneutron source in FIG. 2A, neutrons can be divided into neutrons having− spins and neutrons having + spins. Accordingly, if we use a neutronabsorbing material (a neutron absorber) as the plate 7 and implant forexample neutrons having − spins, we can get a material much having −spins (spin asymmetric material). Similarly, we can get a material muchhaving + spins. These materials including the above-mentioned thin filmsof silver, which have new physical characteristics and have been unknownso far, can be utilized as raw materials for producing various newdevices that are useful for industry.

Second Embodiment

In case of the spin isolation apparatus in the first embodiment, thespin isolation is impossible for charged particles such as electrons.This is because, since Lorentz forces in the direction along the y axisacts on a charged particle moving in the gap between magnet poles, theparticle should be expelled from the gap between the magnet poles. Forthe sake of spin isolation for charged particles, a spin isolationapparatus shown below will be useful.

FIG. 3 shows an apparatus for isolating electrons having spins whoseevery sign is one of the two signs from electrons having spins of mixedsigns as a spin isolation apparatus 101 in this embodiment. Thisapparatus comprises a direct-current source 60, the electromagnet 3, anda conducting wire (trajectory restricting section) 14 that is producedby a conductor such as copper, aluminum, etc., and is passed throughbetween the two magnet poles, an S pole 3 a and an N pole 3 b, of theelectromagnet. This conducting wire 14 branches into two conductingwires 15 and 16 before it goes out of the space in which magnetic fieldsare formed by the magnet poles and individual branched wires areconnected to storage devices 40 such as condensers, capacitors, etc.,for storing electrons.

In the next, explanations will be given to a procedure for isolatingeach individual electron in accordance with the sign of its spin byapplying the spin isolating apparatus 101 illustrated in FIG. 3. Acurrent is supplied to the conducting wire 14 from the direct-currentsource 60. Electrons having − spins and electrons having + spins arecontained almost half and half in this current. When these electronspass through the gap between the magnet poles, each individual electronhaving − spin is attracted by the S pole, passes through the S-pole sideof the conducting wire 14, flows into a branched wire 15, and is storedin a storage device 40. On the other hand, each individual electronhaving + spin is attracted by the N pole, passes through the N-pole sideof the conducting wire 14, flows into a branched wire 16, and is storedin a storage device 40. In this way, electrons having − spins andelectrons having + spins are mass-produced separately from each other.Accordingly, the spin isolating apparatus in this embodiment works as asingle-spin-electron producing apparatus. In addition, each storagedevice 40 has a storage unit in which electrons individually havingspins whose every sign is + or − have stored more than electrons havingspins whose every sign is different from the sign of a spin of each ofindividual former electrons. This storage device 40 can be utilized as a(direct) current source supplying electrons including electrons havingspins of one sign much more than electrons having spins of the othersign.

In the above single-spin-electron producing apparatus, the electromagnetcan be replaced by a permanent magnet. Further, for enhancing a purityof spins of electrons stored in individual storage devices 40, it issuitable for example to connect either one of the storage devices whichonce stored electrons having spins whose every sign is one of the twosigns more than electrons having spins whose every sign is another ofthe two signs to this apparatus again as a direct-current source.Alternatively, it is also appropriate to connect this apparatuscomprising the conducting wire 14 and a following to each of thebranched wires 15 and 16. In addition to the above, there is a method tomake the conducting wire 14 be branched into three wires and let thoseelectrons that cannot be isolated enough and have mixed spins bereleased into the central branched wire. The electrons having + or −spins thus mass-produced can directly be supplied to an apparatus notshown in figures for changing the characteristic of a material insteadof storing in the storage device 40. When a material including particleshaving spins is a fluid such as a gas, a liquid, etc., a hollow tubebranching at the middle thereof can be used instead of the conductingwire 14 branching on the way as shown in FIG. 3.

In this way, electrons having + spins or electrons having − spins bothproduced abundantly and cheaply can individually be utilized foraltering a usual material into a material having either one of the + or− spins more than another spins (spin asymmetric material) by upsettingthe balance of the physical property of the original spin neutralmaterial through applying various physical processes, chemicalprocesses, and/or physicochemical processes, in each of which, forexample, the above either electrons are combined with the spin neutralmaterial. In case of applying physical processes, electrons havingeither one of the + or − spins can be directly injected into eachindividual object material as an electron beam or a current. When amaterial is a metal having conductivity such as Al, Cu, Ag or the like,it is easy to produce a metallic material having free electrons ofpositive spins by directly supplying, for example, only electrons havingpositive spins as a current resulting in replacing free electrons in theabove metal with the electrons having positive spins. As aphysicochemical process, an application of the electrolysis of a fusedsalt (NaCl) can be exemplified. It is known that metallic sodium will beproduced on the cathode in the electrolysis of NaCl. In case ofutilizing this process, supplying each individual electron e⁻ ₊ having +spin as a current, a reaction described by Na⁺+e⁻ ₊→Na₊ occurs on thecathode and each individual metallic sodium Na₊ having + spin will beobtained. In contrast, when each individual electron having − spin issupplied, each individual metallic sodium Na⁻ having − spin will beobtained. Incidentally, the material that is neutral with respect tospins is not restricted to a solid but may be a liquid or a gas.

In the above, explanations have given to apparatus that isolateparticles having only specific spins from each of various types ofparticles having spins. Further, it has also been explained that theseparticles having specific spins can be utilized to alter a physicalproperty of materials. These new materials can be applied as materialsfor forming parts of individual types of apparatus and devices.Therefore, it becomes possible in advance to set basic design itemsconcerning what material should be select as the object, what processcan be applied to alter the physical property of the object material,and what particles having which spins should be used in the process.Especially, electrons having spins of either one of the + and − signscan effectively used for designingly alter a physical or chemicalproperty of a material selected as the object. However, it is necessaryto pay attention to a possibility of the case in which the materialhaving either one of the + and − spins much more than another spins thusobtained is in general difficult to stably hold its state a long time incomparison with spin neutral materials.

Third Embodiment

Individual electrons can be used as carriers of signals. Since applyingelectrons having spins of either one of the two signs to form signalsmeans to newly get a magnetically controlling electric signals inaddition to the known method of an electrical controlling, a field ofapplication will be opened also in the information processingtechnology.

An example of a quite new information processing technology usingcarriers of individual electrons each having either one of the two typesof spins will be explained in the following with reference to FIGS. 4Aand 4B.

FIGS. 4A and 4B show diagrams illustrating a signal processingtechnology using two types of electrons having spins whose every sign iseither + or −. FIG. 4A illustrates a step for compounding a signalcomprised of electrons having positive spins and another signalcomprised of electrons having negative spins together resulting in onecompounded signal and FIG. 4B illustrates another step for dividing theabove compounded signal into signals each comprised of electrons havingeither one of the positive spins and negative spins.

In FIG. 4A, a current comprised of electrons having − spins, which is apart of a direct current inputted into a conducting wire 17, flows intoa branched wire 18 and a current comprising electrons having + spins,which is another part of the direct current inputted into the conductingwire 17, flows into a branched wire 19 at the middle of the passagebetween magnet poles of the electromagnet 3. A signal forming circuit 20outputs digital signals whose each individual bit comprises more thanone electron having a − spin. The outputted digital signals are inputtedinto a dual-spin electron signal compounding circuit 22. A signalforming circuit 21 into which a current having + spins flowed into thebranched wire 19 is inputted outputs a digital signal whose eachindividual bit comprises more than one electron having a + spin and theoutput digital signal is inputted into the dual-spin electron signalcompounding circuit 22. By the way, there is a method in which electronshaving + spins stored in the + spin electron storing device shown inFIG. 3 are supplied to the + spin electron signal forming circuit 21 andelectrons having − spins stored in the − spin electron storing deviceshown in FIG. 3 are supplied to the − spin electron signal formingcircuit 20. The dual-spin electron signal compounding circuit 22 intowhich the + spin electron signal and the − spin electron signal areinputted outputs a compound signal that comprises electrons having bothspins and is compounded from the + spin electron signal and the − spinelectron signal. Explanations will be given to dual-spin electroncompounded signals 22 a and 22 b shown in the above figure (FIG. 4A).

The compounded signal 22 a as an example of a signal comprisingelectrons having spins of both signs is formed by disposing individualbits each comprising electrons having + spins and individual bits eachcomprising electrons having − spins. The compound signal 22 b is formedby disposing three types of bits, that is, individual bits eachcomprising electrons having + spins, individual bits each comprisingelectrons having − spins, and individual bits each comprising noelectron or a little number of electrons compared to other bits such asa + bit and a − bit. A conventional electronic signal has only two typesof bits, that is, 0 or 1. On the other hand, since another degree offreedom concerning a negative sign or a positive sign of each spin isadded, various encodings will become possible in accordance withindividual objects.

The dual-spin electron signal 22 a or 22 b thus obtained will be sent tothe process for a next step. One example of such the process for thenext step is storage in semiconductor memories. As another example ofthe process for the next step, a step for dividing a signal comprisingelectrons having spins whose every sign is either one of the two signsfrom the dual-sign spin electronic signal will be shown in FIG. 4B.

For example, the compounded signal 22 a that has formed by the dual-spinelectron signal compounding circuit shown in FIG. 4A is inputted into aconducting wire 30 as an input signal for a compounded signal dividingcircuit shown in FIG. 4B. A signal current comprised of electrons having− spins, which is a part of the above compounded signal current, flowsinto a branched wire 31 and another signal current comprising electronshaving + spins, which is another part of the above compounded signalcurrent, flows into a branched wire 32 at the middle of the passagebetween the magnet poles of the electromagnet 3. Each individualelectron signal formed by the electrons whose every sign has either oneof the two signs will individually be sent as an input for a signalprocessing circuit in accordance with the object in the next step. Inthis way, when the apparatus shown in FIG. 4A is regarded as an encodingcircuit, the apparatus shown in FIG. 4B works as a type of decodingcircuit. Therefore, it becomes possible to compose a single-spinelectron signal processing system by combining the apparatus shownindividually in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Further, the combination of branchedconducting wires and an electromagnet shown individually in FIGS. 4A and4B can be unified on each of substrates 80 a and 80 b as shown forexample in FIGS. 5A and 5B. In the example shown in FIG. 5A, a permanentmagnet 81 made from a material such as a samarium cobalt is used and, inthe example shown in FIG. 5B, an electromagnet 82 is used. In addition,by making use of a thin-film magnetic head as an electromagnet, both thebranched conducting wires and the electromagnet can be produced in themanufacturing process utilizing photolithography.

Now, we consider the purity of spins with respect to a signal formed byelectrons having either one of the + spins and − spins. For example,suppose that a signal of a bit comprises 10 electrons, in which a numberof electrons having + spins is 8 and a number of electrons having −spins is 2. This signal can substantially be regarded as comprising 6electrons having + spin. Therefore, it is not always necessary for the10 electrons to have spins whose every sign is +.

Incidentally, as long as not deviating from the idea or scope of thisinvention, it is possible to make various alterations to the contents ofconcrete descriptions in the above embodiments.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to this invention, since isolation of each individual particlein response to every specific sign of its spin becomes possible, it alsobecomes possible with the use of those particles whose every spin haseither one of the two signs to create new raw materials that have neverbeen in the natural world.

1. A spin isolation apparatus which isolates particles each having aspin based on a sign of the spin of each of the particle, the apparatuscomprising: a particle source which emits the particles; a receivingsection which receives the particles emitted by the particle source; aStern-Gerlach type electromagnet which has two magnet poles arrangedapart from each other with a predetermined gap and which is placedbetween the particle source and the receiving section and whichseparates the particles into first particles each having a spin of apositive sign and second particles each having a spin of a negativesign; and a trajectory restricting section which restricts thetrajectories of at least one of the first particles and the secondparticles only to a lateral direction (y) to isolate the first andsecond particles to be received by the receiving section, wherein thetrajectory restricting section is a conducting wire or a conduit whichconnects the particle source and the receiving section, which is placedin the gap between the magnet poles, and which branches into twoconducting wires or two conduits in a magnetic field formed by themagnet poles in the gap.
 2. The spin isolation apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the particles each having the spin are electrons, thereceiving section includes storage devices, and the trajectoryrestricting section is the conductive wire which branches into the twowires.
 3. A current source comprising: a plurality of first electronseach having a positive spin and a plurality of second electrons eachhaving a negative spin which are separated by using the spin isolationapparatus as defined in claim 2; a storage section which stores thefirst and second electrons; and electrodes which output the first andsecond electrons, wherein a number of the first electrons stored in thestorage section and a number of the second electrons stored in thestorage section are different from each other by a ratio greater than apredetermined ratio.
 4. A signal processing method for processingelectric signals comprising: a step of forming a first electric signalwith first electrons each having a positive spin supplied by the spinisolation apparatus as defined in claim 2; and a step of forming asecond electric signal, which is different from the first electricsignal, with second electrons each having a negative spin supplied bythe spin isolation apparatus as defined in claim
 2. 5. The signalprocessing method according to claim 4, comprising: a step of forming acompound signal compounded from the first electric signal and the secondelectric signal; and a step of decomposing the compound signal into atleast two electric signals substantially equivalent to the firstelectric signal and the second electric signal.
 6. A productionapparatus producing a spin asymmetric substance in which a number ofparticles each having a positive spin due to an electron and a number ofparticles each having a negative spin due to an electron are mutuallydifferent by a ratio greater than a predetermined ratio, the apparatusat least comprising: the current source as defined in claim 3; and adevice which moves the electrons stored in the current source to asubstance having an electric potential higher than that of the currentsource.
 7. A production apparatus producing a spin asymmetric substancein which a number of particles each having a positive spin due to anelectron and a number of particles each having a negative spin due to anelectron are mutually different by a ratio greater than a predeterminedratio, the apparatus at least comprising: the current source as definedin claim 3; and an electrolyser; and a substance to be electrolyzed. 8.A spin asymmetric substance produced by using the production apparatusas defined in claim
 6. 9. A spin asymmetric substance produced by usingthe production apparatus as defined in claim
 7. 10. A signal processingmethod for processing electric signals comprising: a step of forming afirst electric signal with first electrons each having a positive spinsupplied by the spin isolation apparatus as defined in claim 3; and astep of forming a second electric signal, which is different from thefirst electric signal, with second electrons each having a negative spinsupplied by the spin isolation apparatus as defined in claim
 3. 11. Aspin asymmetric substance produced by using a method which comprises: astep of arranging, one behind the other, a particle source which emits abeam of particles each having a spin, a Stern-Gerlach type electromagnethaving two magnet poles arranged with a predetermined gap, and asubstance to be a receiving section; a step of emitting the particleseach having the spin from the particle source; a step of separating theparticles each having the spin by the use of a trajectory restrictingsection as defined in claim 1 into positive spin particles and negativespin particles by making the particles each having the spin pass throughthe gap defined in the electromagnet; and a step of injecting, into thesubstance, one of the positive spin particles and the negative spinparticles such that the injected particle is injected by the ratiogreater than a predetermined ratio with respect to the other of theparticles.